


The table by the classical literature

by floranaconda



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - College/University, College AU, Library, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-02
Updated: 2014-04-19
Packaged: 2018-01-17 21:00:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1402294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floranaconda/pseuds/floranaconda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The point is, Dean was in library every night and every night he sat at the same table. Everyone who used the library knew this and steered clear of Dean's half hidden, two seated table behind the shelf containing classical literature. So why was there a dark haired boy sat there with his sheets of notes scattered over the table?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

1.

Since the first day of college, Dean Winchester had gone to the library every evening, sat at his table and worked. Sometimes it was college work, sometimes he read books that his brother had recommended to him, sometimes he browsed the internet to read up on unexplainable deaths or disappearances because he loved to imagine what could have happened to them and it usually involved some form of creature or ghost and other times he wrote in his journal, he'd got the idea from his dad and now he wrote down all the important things that had happened to him, all the things he'd want to remember.

The point is, Dean was in library every night and every night he sat at the same table. Everyone who used the library knew this and steered clear of Dean's half hidden, two seated table behind the shelf containing classical literature. So why was there a dark haired boy sat there with his sheets of notes scattered over the table?

To say Dean was annoyed would be an understatement but he wanted to avoid confrontation, avoiding eye contact so as not to speak to anyone was Dean's main form of social interaction so he left the boy at the table and stormed over to the shelf of Vonnegut books. He was pissed and Slaughterhouse 5 was his best bet for forgetting about it.

He was glad the library was mostly empty or people might have started to get annoyed with his frustrated sighs as he tried to get comfortable in the too soft armchair.

 

2.

The boy was there again the next day. Dean properly looked at him this time, he had dark hair and blue eyes and well, if he wasn't a dick who was sat at his table Dean might even say he was attractive. In a totally objective manner, Dean of course, would never be attracted to a scrawny, table-stealing asshole.

Dean had homework to do this evening and the library was packed. Normally that wouldn't be an issue as Dean had his own table, but tonight there was nowhere for him to sit and he stood in the centre of the library, books clutched under his arm and he didn't know what to do.

For a moment he considered going and sitting in the other seat at his table but that just wasn't something he was willing to do. It wasn't that he was shy exactly but in the past, a lot of the crap in his life had happened through bad social choices and he wanted to get by with good grades. So yeah, Dean had become a recluse but it's not like he didn't have friends, he still occasionally met up with Charlie and Jo at the weekends and he talked to Sammy on the phone almost every night when he got back to his room.

Sighing, he turned and left the library, his room wasn't ideal, it made him feel claustrophobic and stank of smoke that had risen from the room below him but he was lucky in not having a room mate. It would have to do for the night.

 

3.

Dean had arrived at the library two hours earlier than normal and, thank the lord, had found his table unoccupied. He settled down in his chair with a smile, he'd missed this. How he had a good view of the main area of the library but remained mostly concealed and, god this sounded ridiculous, he'd missed his sense of belonging. What had his life become that a table in a college library felt more like home than anywhere else? Sadly, a damn sight better than it was before.

He pulled out his textbook and started making notes and before long he'd settled into it and he almost didn't notice when the chair opposite him screeched across the floor and a the boy flopped down into it. Dean looked up in confusion, the library was entirely empty except for the two of them, it wasn't like the boy didn't have a choice of where to sit.

The boy didn't say anything, he just pulled out a tattered copy of the Odyssey and started reading, occasionally scribbling an something onto one of the pages. He didn't react to Dean's staring and after a moment Dean went back to his textbook but he'd lost concentration now and kept finding himself glancing up at the blue eyed boy.

After about half an hour he finally could start concentrating again and had managed to block out the static presence of the boy. So typically, when he was about to turn onto the next chapter, the boy spoke:

“Why did you leave yesterday?”

Ok, why was he talking? Wasn't it bad enough that he was sat at the table? Did he really have to _talk?_ Dean rubbed his and against the back of his neck, unsure of how to reply to the irritation sat in front of him.

“Nowhere to sit” He grunted, trying to appear as if he was focusing on his work.

“There was here? Or am I that bad you won't sit at your own table?” He had a smirk on his face as he spoke and Dean wasn't quite sure if he wanted to kiss him or to punch him.

“I knew you knew it was my table.” Dean hissed through his teeth and the boy gave him a look as if he were stupid

“You've sat here all year, how could I not know?”

Dean shuffled in his seat, it had been a while since he'd talked to someone he didn't know other than teachers and it was certainly harder than he remembered. No suitable reply was coming to mind so he just sat there, looking mildly baffled.

“It's clear you don't want me here so I'll leave you in peace.” The boy stood up and gathered his things together “I'm Castiel, I'll see you around Dean.”

Dean grunted in reply as Castiel left the library and it wasn't until the doors had slammed shut that he thought to question how the hell Castiel had known his name. If that wasn't a little creepy then Dean didn't know what was.

 

4.

Dean dropped his stuff at his table before marching over to the table where he had spotted Castiel. Castiel had thankfully decided to leave Dean's table alone but Dean wanted answers.

Castiel was poring over some text in latin and he visibly jumped when Dean dropped down across the table from him and leaned forward.

“You know my name, huh?” He demanded and was glad when Castiel looked embarrassed.

“Yes.”

“Yes? That's all you have to say about it? Cause I gotta say Cas, I had no idea you existed till you abducted my table the other day.”

Yep, he was blushing now and Dean could feel himself grinning. He felt a lot more comfortable today, having actually expected this conversation.

“When did I become Cas?”

“When your name was fucking weird and far too much effort to say. No offence, it suits you.”

“Uh, thank you? I think... And I know your name as you're in my sister's physics class and she non-stop talks about 'The quiet and nerdy but badass Dean Winchester with the best ass known to mankind'. Honestly it gets tiring.”

_Damn,_ Dean thought, _I've still got it._ Normally he would leap on the chance of this interested girl in one of his classes but the thought that fucking is sister would lose him any chance with Cas stopped him from asking. And that was when he realised he'd been lying about not being attracted and yes, he would definitely fuck Cas. Well shit.

“Huh” Was all he managed to procure before he wandered back to his corner and pretended to read for a few hours. From his seat he had a perfect view of Cas' profile, yet again his table choice had come through for him.

 

5.

Dean watched Cas come through the library doors and sit in the same place he had the day before. He left it a few minutes, gotta seem casual after all before almost skipping over to Cas

“Hey” he said, taking the seat adjacent to Castiel's

“Hello Dean.” Cas replied without looking up from his book

“Why did you sit at the table if you knew it was where I sit?” Cas sighed and met Dean's eyesat last. Dean shifted a little at the sudden attention.

“Is this going to be a question a day thing?”

Dean grinned “Pretty much”

He was met with an eye roll which he ignored.

“I wanted to see how you'd react. That's all you're getting.”

Well that was enlightening, Dean wanted to press but Cas had put his entire focus back onto the text and it was clear he wasn't getting anything more out of him today. It was just an excuse to talk to him again tomorrow and christ, when did Dean start _wanting_ to talk to anyone. He just hoped it was a positive sign.

“Fine.”

 

6.

Castiel was not in the library the next day and Dean sat alone and worked for an hour before heading back to his room and falling asleep fully clothed on top of his covers. He spent too much time in that damn library.

 

7.

It was a Sunday and it was raining and however much Dean wanted to go and see Sammy, he did not want to unravel himself from his duvet and go into the outside world. He didn't see why he had to go out to visit his brother, it would be far simpler for Sam to hang out on the campus for the day but instead he insisted on visiting some occult museum or some crap in the city.

By the time Dean was in the Impala his mood had positively brightened. The rain was clearing up and Led Zeppelin was blasting through the radio and he should definitely go out driving more often. Maybe if he became closer with Cas he could take him for a drive sometime.

Sammy was waiting for him outside the museum and Dean could swear he'd grown at least 10 feet since he'd last seen him a few months before.

“What's up Sasquatch?” Dean greeted him whilst he pulled his brother into a hug.

The museum was actually pretty interesting, there was a load of stuff about devil worship and demons and a room dedicated to witchcraft but the area Dean liked the best was the section on angels. It was mostly filled with art, each with descriptions on what angel they were. Don't get him wrong, Dean wasn't interested in harps and sandals, these guys weren't like that, they were pretty badass really.

There was one painting that had really caught Dean's eye. It was of a glow of white light in the night sky and the shadows of wings stretched out across space, just a shade different in colour to the sky around it. The stars could still be seen glowing within the wings and Dean was entranced. He looked at the plaque beside it and took a sharp intake of breath at the 4 words written on it:

CASTIEL: ANGEL OF THURSDAY

He was definitely going to mention this.

 

8.

The night before, Dean hadn't got back to his room until late into the night as he'd stayed out drinking with his brother. So for the second time, that week and year, Dean had not spent his evening in the library.

Sam had stayed overnight at Dean's but had left early that morning so Dean was free to spend the evening how he liked and how he always did 

Castiel was in the library again and again, he jumped a little when Dean dropped down next to him.

“Hello Dean. What is your quaestio de diem?”

“My questry de what now?” Cas laughed (nope Dean, not cute, he is not cute) and rolled his eyes

“Your question of the day.”

“Oh.” Dean pretended to think about it for a moment before asking. “Are you an angel?”

Cas looked honestly taken aback.

“I'm sorry, is that a flirtation?” It was Dean's turn to laugh,

“Nah, Castiel, Angel of Thursday right?” If anything, Cas now looked even more flustered.

“Have you been researching my name Dean?”

“I might have been.” Dean winked as he left Cas' side. As soon as he sat back at his table he regretted. He'd probably just fucked up all chances of friendship with the guy, let alone anything more. It took him a long time of staring blankly at a textbook to realise that he was being stupid, if Cas wanted to get to know Dean, he wouldn't be put of by mild flirting and if Cas wanted more, well surely flirting was a good thing then?

 

9.

Castiel didn't look up from his paper at Dean's arrival, instead he gave a quick “Hello Dean.” before returning to his work. Dean didn't reply, just sat and watched Cas work for a while. After a few minutes Cas looked up.

“Question?” Cas asked and Dean felt the nervousness he'd been pressing down all through classes earlier that day start bubbling back up.

“Sit with me?”

“You're sat with me now?” Cas honestly look confused which didn't help as Dean really didn't want to explain motives or feelings or anything right now.

“No, come sit with me, over there.”

“You don't like others sitting at your table.” Dammit why did Cas have to look so puzzled and oblivious?

“I like you... Sitting there.” Dean mumbled and Cas was positively beaming as he gathered his things and following Dean over.

They didn't really talk, just sat in companionable silence and did their work but when it got late and Cas started to get ready to leave Dean stopped him,

“You can sit here anytime you want, y'know, if you want”

Cas smiled and nodded at him in acknowledgement and Dean could feel a bubble of happiness building inside him at how well this socialising thing was going so far.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

17.  
Ever since Dean had invited him over the other week, Castiel had sat at his table each day. Occasionally they spoke to each other, usually they worked in silence. It was a good arrangement, both of them got their work done, always had somewhere to sit and Dean could creep on Cas without having to look across the room. Sometimes, Dean would let his leg stray and bump into Cas' but he never got any reaction from him.

But today Cas hadn't turned up and Dean was sat alone, trying not to feel like a rejected puppy as he read the same line of cat's cradle over and over again. It wasn't like they'd arranged to meet or had planned to spend time together, it was just Dean had been enjoying spending time with Cas, even when they didn't talk it was nice to have company, cute company at that.

It didn't help that spending every evening over the last week with Cas had made him discover that it wasn't just the sex hair, nicely shaped jaw and ocean eyes that had Dean captivated but there was something in Cas' personality that he found hard to resist. He didn't know if it was his complete obliviousness on anything to do with pop culture, his deadpan humour or just that he seemed to actually enjoy spending time with Dean but Dean was hooked. He'd tried telling himself that it was only because he was the first new friend Dean had had in a long time but he knew better. God knows he hadn't approached Cas because he thought he'd be a good friend.

He'd settle for friend though. Hell, he'd probably settle for anything Cas wanted and this was why he didn't talk to people. There was no way he wasn't going to fuck this up with his neediness unless he pulled himself together.

That didn't stop him straightening up and smiling as his dark haired friend came through the library doors and walked over to his table. Rain water was dripping down his face and off his chin and he looked positively bedraggled.

“Hello Dean.” He said as he sat in the seat opposite Dean.

“Leaving it a bit late, Cas?”

“What do you mean?”

“Library shuts in 20 minutes. And how come you're wet?” Cas looked startled and lifted his hand up to his hair, when he pulled it away again it was covered in droplets of water.

“I didn't notice. I was in a rush to get here.” His eyebrows were knotted in confusion as he looked at the incriminating evidence of rain on his hand and Dean was getting a little tired of telling himself off for thinking entirely unmanly thoughts about how god damn adorable Cas was.

“I wanted to give you this.” Cas placed a small piece of paper on the table with numbers scrawled across it. He'd signed his name underneath it and he'd written Cas, the name Dean had given him and there may have been a slight fluttering in Dean's stomach at the realisation. “I'm going to be at Anna's all next week but I was thinking you might like to meet during the weekend after. You can text me if you would like to. I should go and get dry, apparently.”

And with that Cas was gone and Dean was left in a combined daze of 'oh my god Cas gave me his number' and 'fuck is Anna his girlfriend?'. Life would be so much simpler if Dean just remembered his rules of not talking to people.

 

20.

Dean was most definitely not sulking. Brooding he might accept, sitting quietly in his room sure but sulking? No, Dean Winchester did not sulk. If only Sam would understand that and leave him alone.

So yeah, maybe he hadn't gone to the library since Cas had gone to stay with Anna. And maybe he hadn't texted Cas yet as he'd convinced himself he was away with his girlfriend and he might have ranted about it all over the phone to Sammy, just a little. But that was no reason for Sam to come and break into Dean's room and proceed to sit on him until he agreed to, as Sam put it, 'stop been such a 12 year old and text the guy already'.

Sam sat over him, watching him until he was sure Dean had sent his text.

 **Sent 16.02**  
What did you want to do at the weekend?

Sam laughed as he read the text over Dean's shoulder and when Dean glared at him over his shoulder he only laughed harder.

“Dude, since when did you text like a robot?”

Dean shoved his brother before proceeding to send another text to his friend.

 **Sent 16.04**  
Hey Cas it's Dean I forgot to say before

Only seconds after he sent the text, his phone started ringing so Dean left his brother laughing on the floor and stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He was grinning as he answered the phone to the gravelly voice.

“Hello Dean.”

“Hey Cas, what's up?”

“You wished to discuss plans for the weekend.” Cas replied and Dean sat himself down on the side of the bath as his friend talked. “I can spend time with you on either day of the weekend. You may decide what we should do.”

“Sammy's over till Saturday so I'm free to 'spend time with you' Sunday if y'want.” He could hear a quiet laugh through the phone as he mimicked Cas' speech. “Though I'm surprised you're allowed out on Sundays oh Angel of Thursday.”

Dean laughed at his own joke and he could swear he could hear the eyes rolling at the other end of the line.

“Wait, that gives me an idea,” He continued, “You been to that occult museum in the city?”

“I have not.”

“Right, text me details for where and when and I'll pick you up, kay?”

“Alright Dean.”

Dean hung up the phone and went back into the room to see Sam sat on his bed, an empty notebook on his lap. When he saw Dean enter the room he started pretending to read out loud from it and Dean decided his brother was more than due a Winchester pranking.

“Dear diary,” He read out in a high pitched voice “today I saw a really cute boy and I think I'm in love, do you think he loves me back?”

 

21.

It was getting late and Dean and Sam were sat on the floor of his dorm room with empty beer bottles scattered around them. Sam was leaning back against the bed, his gangly legs sprawled across the floor as he giggled.

Dean smiled at his little brother before winding his arm beneath him and heaving him up onto the spare bed that was meant for his non-existent room mate.

“Alright Sammy, I think you've had a bit too much.” When Sam was settled on his side with the blankets covering him, Dean went off to the bathroom to collect water to put by his bed and brush his teeth whilst he was in there.

When he came back out again, Sam was still giggling but that was drunk Sammy for you. Dean placed the water on the bedside table and lay down on his own bed. One week until he got to saw Cas. He fell asleep with that thought in his head.

 

22.

Dean woke up with a banging headache to the sound of retching coming from his bathroom. He groaned as he pulled himself up.

“Need me to hold you hair back, sweetie?” He called through the bathroom door and was greeted with some angry grumbling which sounded like a selection of swear words if you listened to them the right way.

Chuckling to himself, he pulled on a tshirt and looked about for his phone, this was definitely calling for some blackmail worthy photographs. It wasn't on his bedside table where he usually left it, or on the floor or anywhere he might have normally left it.

He was about to give up on his search when he spotted it lying by Sam's pillow. He edged towards it, one eye shut as he reached out and clicked to turn it on.

“Please don't have sent anything.” He begged the phone as it turned on to reveal 3 new messages and 1 missed call. All from Cas. Dean was going to kill Sam.

Bracing himself, he opened up the texts.

 **Received 07.22**  
Dean? What do you mean by this? Are you inebriated?

 **Received 08.55**  
Please reply Dean. Are you alright?

 **Received 10.06**  
Dean Wincester I need you to explain what you mean by this. Please reply IMMEDIATELY.

Dean looked over at the clock, it was half 10, just over 20 minutes since the last text had come through. With his heart pumping fast, he opened up the sent box but it was empty. Whatever Sam had sent to Cas, he had then removed all evidence of it. He swore under his breath and quickly typed out a reply.

 **Sent 10.37**  
Hey Cas, my brother's staying with me and he took my phone last night while I was in the bathroom. Don't know what he sent you but sorry if it was weird. I'm gonna kick his ass

He held his breath as he waited for a reply, Sam had finished throwing up and would probably be out and primed for an ass kicking any moment but Dean wanted to see what Cas would say before he did anything. The text came through just a moment later.

 **Received 10.38**  
I see, may I suggest you keep a closer eye on your phone in future?

Dean rolled his eyes at the text but breathed out a sigh of relief, Cas didn't seem pissed, did he? It was fine, Sam will have sent something dumb and childish that's all.

 **Sent 10.39**  
Got it, see you next week?

 **Received 10.41**  
Of course

Sam finally emerged from the bathroom looking a complete mess, his hair was hanging limp from his head and there was a spot of vomit on his chin. The sight was too pitiful to get him back now so instead Dean held up his phone at his brother, eyes raised.

“Bitch.”

Sam just smiled weakly, clutching his stomach as he turned back into the bathroom.

“Jerk.” He muttered.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading!  
> Just a word about the tiny bit of latin, I have no idea if it's correct or not as I had to use google translate so if it's wrong, please tell me and I'll change it.  
> Hope you enjoyed and there should be another chapter soon. :)


End file.
